Laser Cleaning of Glass

The pulse lasers, YAG-, and N2-lasers, are examined for use in the cleaning of glass. Cleaning is found to be due to the evaporation and sputtering of stains on the glass by the heat energy of the laser light. Only the N2 laser can be used for the cleaning of the exit surface of the glass (the opposite side to the laser). A laser with a high peak power of about 106 J/s and short-pulse duration below 100ns is found to be necessary in practice